On April 10, all four candidates for Tempe City Council received a
check from Cox Communications’ Political Action Committee for $390.
With a run-off election slated for May 20, they’ve needed funds to
continue their campaigns. In April alone, the four raised $44,902—with
much coming from outside Tempe. Mesa, unfortunately, doesn’t make
campaign finance reports available at their city web site, so voters
can’t check easily.

On March 11, when voters in Tempe and Mesa cast ballots, every race
with more than two candidates got thrown into a May 20 do-over. Mesa
will take two months to determine the second choice of voters who
preferred Claudia Walters for mayor.

Tempe’s at-large council race elected one and eliminated two,
leaving four candidates for two slots. Mesa’s District 5 dropped from
three candidates to two.

If the process strikes you as remarkably inefficient, it is.

Recently Fair Vote Arizona joined the Arizona Institute for Peace
Education and Research in hosting three of the Tempe council candidates
for a program on Ranked Choice Voting. Fair Vote Arizona is organizing
an initiative drive in Glendale to eliminate their run-off elections.
The candidates were unanimous on their marathon campaigns. New mom
Julie Jakubek, who was a council candidate, probably best captured
their sentiments, “I enjoy getting to meet voters, but I’d like to
spend time with my family.”

Ranked Choice Voting was used in London’s recent election. San
Francisco uses it. Minneapolis and Santa Fe are implementing it. The
Utah Republican Party elects party officers and nominates county,
state, and federal candidates with it. The Academy Awards even uses it
to determine the five finalists for Oscar categories.

Ralph Nader’s appearance at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe on May
9 reminds us, along with Evan Meacham, of our current system’s
shortcomings. When three or more candidates compete in races where
only one candidate wins, voters worry about wasting their vote on a
candidate they like, but fear won’t be elected. Worse yet, they might
cast such a ballot and actually help elect the candidate they disliked
most.

With multiple seat races, like in Tempe, many strong backers for
candidates fret about assisting other candidates and throw away two of
their votes, making it even more likely we’ll have a run-off.

With Ranked Choice Voting, you simply rank candidates. In Mesa’s
mayoral race, when Claudia Walters came in third, her ballots would be
recounted and her votes transferred to voters’ second choices—so those
voters’ preferences aren’t disregarded but simply re-applied. We’d
know immediately whether Rex Griswold or Scott Smith would be the next
mayor.

In Tempe, ranked choice would bring more diversity to the council.
The hottest issue has been between those bound and determined to reduce
property taxes and those bound and determined to make sure Tempe has
top notch parks. Currently, majority rule dominates as each voter gets
one vote per seat; minority interests can get stifled. Ranked choice
instead gives each citizen one vote that can be transferred, if the
voter’s top choice isn’t selected. If three are elected, votes are
counted and each candidate able to reach one-fourth of the total
ballots cast plus one would be elected.

The simplest analogy is the Academy Awards nominations where members
rank order nominations and ballots are then tabulated until a candidate
reaches the finalist threshold at which point those ballots are set
aside and further selections for that candidate (over-votes) are
counted instead for their next preferred candidate, and so on until
five Oscar finalists are determined.

Tempe would elect some candidates determined to reduce property
taxes and some wishing to make sure Tempe has top notch parks—the same
kind of diversity that one finds within Tempe’s electorate.

We can get it right the first time. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

Sources:(Note: alternative names for Ranked Choice Voting are Instant Run-off Voting and Single Transferrable Vote)Candidate Pre-General Campaign Finance Reports for Tempe Council available at http://www.tempe.gov/clerk/Election/candidate%20Campaign%20Finance%20reports.htm
(all finance reports, including Mesa’s are at the Maricopa County
Recorders web site searchable by candidate and year-but not office or
locality–few know this, however)